Packing receptacle



Dec. 2, 1941. TUGEL E 2,264,418

PACKING RECEPTACLE Filed June 19, 1959 /9 INVENTORLS 2/ //9 FRED F TUGELVIf/LL/AM H GEUL ATTORNEY.

Patented Dec. 2, 1941 UETED 'STT PACKING REoErrAoLa Fred F. Tugel andWilliam H. Grul, Watsonville,

Calif Application June 19, 1939, Serial No. 279,906

4 Claims. ((31. 217-43) This invention relates to packing receptacles,and more particularly to a skeleton type of packing crate in which theproducts are packed in a plurality of separate superposed containerscommonly referred to as lug boxes.

Heretofore it has been the practice to provide a crate in which-theplane of the walls, bottom and top have been made of slats more or lesscompletely covering the plane thereof. The size of this crate has beenvery generally standardized at approximately 24 inches long, 18 incheswide and 14 inches high. This type of construction provided a cratehaving only one compartment from top to bottom and required packing ofthe products in the crate one upon another. Handling in shipment issometimes rough, and the lower products in the crate would be injured intransit due to the superimposed weight of the upper products. In orderto secure a firmly packed crate from top to bottom, it has beennecessary to overfill the crate and run it through a press to depressproducts therein into a firm, well-filled pack. This practice not onlybruises and distorts the shape of the products, but makes a crown at topand bottom of the crate, detrimental to stacking and causing wastedspace and instability of the stacks in shipment. These shortcomings areparticularly present in respect of products which are easily damaged'inpacking and shipment, such as lettuce, fruits, tomatoes and the like. Ifthe commodity requires packing in ice, this. adds an additional weightwithin the crate. It is also disadvantageous in large-scale andlong-distance shipping of perishable products, such as lettuce, peaches,berries, and the like, to have a crate or receptacle providing a singlecompartment from top to bottom, for the. reasons, firstly, that in thepacking thereof the packer must bend over and carefully place the lowerproducts in the bottom of the compartment of restricted size, whichconsumes time and effort of the packer and adds up additional expense;secondly, in the case of perishableproducts, a dealer oftentimes doesnot desire to take too large a stock of the goods which may perish onhis hands and yet he desires to display a small stock of the goods whichcan be quickly sold. However, for shipping purposes, it is highlydesirable to pack and handle a crate of goods of the usual size of thepresent single-unit crate, because it has been demonstrated fromexperience that this size of crate is the most economical to handle inpacking the products, handling charges, storage freight rates, etc. Forthis reason, the breaking down of the single compartment crate into aplurality of smaller individually handled boxes, though eliminating thecrushing of the products, and providing smaller units for handling atdestination, and greater ease in packing, has not been economicalbecause it multiplies the cost of manual handling of a greater number ofseparate boxes of smaller size. Then, too, each of the smaller boxesmust have a separate cover which is expensive in both material and inlabor for afifixing it and removing it, and each box must be made ofsufficient strength and rigidity as a separate unit to stand roughhandling in transportation from the producers packing house to itsultimate destination and use.

Therefore, among the objects of this invention are to provide areceptacle having all the advantages of separate small lug boxescombined with the advantages of a single standard-size crate; anotherobject is to provide a receptacle for enclosing a plurality ofindividual lug boxes in a manner requiring a minimum of material andlabor in both the crate and the individual boxes. Another object is toprovide a skeleton crate for superposed individual boxes wherein asingle cover serves for all of the superposed boxes, and the side wallsand'ends of' the combined superposed individual boxes form the sidewalls of a crate and the bottom of the lowermost of the superposed boxesforms the bottom of the crate. It is a further object to provide such aframe and crate in which the sides of the frame may be readilyremovedfrom the boxes so that individual boxes may be taken out of theframe.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, all of which will be moreapparent as this'description proceeds, the invention is exemplified inone form in the novel construction and combination of parts hereinafterdescribed, illustrated in the accompanying drawing, and pointed out inthe claims hereto appended,.it being understood that various changes inthe form, proportion, size and details of construction of the apparatusmay be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims withoutdeparting from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of theinvention.

To more clearly comprehend the invention, reference is directed to theaccompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an assembly of the invention, having aportion broken awayto show structure. Fig. '2 is an end view of thedevice'of Fig. 1, but with top closed, and having a portion broken 5away to show structure.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a mat of connected frames for forming askeleton crate.

Referring to the drawing, wherein like characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in the several views, ID indicates generallysuperposed packing boxes of the type sometimes referred to as lug ortray boxes. These tray boxes are separate containers and each isprovided with ends II, sides I2, and bottom slats I3, the bottom slatsI3 preferably being the full length of the box and providing spacingmembers between the superposed boxes for purposes of ventilation of thepacked products I4. An enveloping skeleton crate I5 is provided toenclose the superposed boxes. The crate I5 comprises a plurality offrame members at sides It, bottom It", and top I6. These frame membersare formed of parallelly disposed slats I! which are fixedly connectedas by staples I8 to cleat members I9 which are perpendicular to theplane of the frames so that when the frames are cooperatively formedinto a crate structure, these cleats I9 extend inwardly from frames I6and overlie a marginal portion of the ends II of the superposed boxesI0, as best indicated in Fig. 2. It is preferred that the slat membersI! of the side frames I6 and bottom frame I6 be relatively spaced at therespective ends of cleats I9 of those members, and that the interveningarea between the slats of the respective members be left open, both forpurposes of ventilation and for the saving of material and labor in themanufacture of the skeleton enveloping crate. The top member Iii of thecrate differs from the sides and bottom members thereof in that slats I!are of sufficient width and number to provide an effective closurecovering for the uppermost of the superposed boxes. The crate formed bythe frames I6 is of such size that it snugly fits around the sides, topand bottom of the unit formed by the superposed boxes, the ends of thecrate being open except for the marginal inwardly extending cleats I9,which are elongated strips beveled at their opposite ends at an angle ofsubstantially 45, as at 20. The opposing side frames Iii are hingedlyconnected to the opposite edges of the bottom frame I6 and the top frameI6 is likewise hingedly connected to the upper edge of one of the sideframes, the bevel-cut 20 at each end of the cleats permitting thebeveled faces to come into contact at an angle of substantially 45 andthus form a supporting rigid brace against each other at the corners ofthe end of the crate. The hinge member for connecting theabove-mentioned members preferably comprises a flexible binding strap orwire 2 I which. extends completely around the outside ofthe crate alongthe outer or rear face of the cleats. Each end 22' of the binding strapor wire has a free portion preferably twisted into a loop so that theseends may be interengaged to lock the frames into crate-forming relationaround the superposed boxes. It will be noted that there is a bindingwire or strap 2| at each end of the crate, and additional straps alsomay be provided intermediate thereof if desired.

From the foregoing description it will be ob served that when the crateis. tightly secured with a snug fit around the superposed boxes, therespective co-planar end walls and sides of the superposed boxes serveto close the open portions of the skeleton crate, and likewise thebottom of the lowermost box provides a bottom for the crate, and the topframe I-B provides a cover therefore serves as a top closure for all ofthem as a unit.

In making the crate I5, it is preferred that it be made in the form ofan elongated mat as best shown in Fig. 3. This permits it to be made inone continuous strip with the cleats at the opposite ends being arrangedin longitudinal alignment and the slats being rectangular thereto, andrelatively parallel to each other with their ends resting on the longeror rear edge of the beveled cleats. The frame members being thusdisposed may be passed through a stapling machine and the binding wireor strap 2I may be stapled to the slats simultaneously with and by thesame staples which fixedly secure the slats to the rear face of thecleats.

From the foregoing description, it is noted that individual top membershave been eliminated from the separate superposed boxes; that end, sideand bottom closure panels have been eliminated from the frames formingthe crate; that the disadvantage of crushing the packed products in asingle compartment crate have been eliminated; that the advantage ofseparate individual boxes has been preserved, and the size and shape ofthe standardized crate has been maintained. It will be further observedthat with the bracing of the ends of the crate by beveling therespective ends of the cleats and providing superposed boxes snuglyfitting within the crate, the entire structure is made rigid and strongand therefore the material forming the superposed boxes within the crateand also the material of the slats may be very much reduced in thicknessas compared with receptacles of present use, since the boxes within thecrate reinforce the frames, and the binding strap or wire 2| securelypositions the skeleton enveloping crate in close contact with the wallsof the enclosed superposed boxes.

It is obvious that in order to open the crate at its destination, it isnot necessary to use tools or implements to remove nails and tops ofboxes, it being necessary only to clip the binding strap 2I or disengagethe ends 22 thereof, and thereby make each packed layer of the productready and easy to inspect, and providing ready packed trays or boxeswhich may be disposed of as separate units. It is also to be observed asan incidental advantage, that certain difficulties in labeling have beenovercome. Labeling of the individual tray boxes I0 may be done on eitherthe ends or sides thereof after the packing and crating has been.completed, thus preventing mutilation of labels in going through thepacking process, and since the labels are slightly inset from the planeof the crate they are saved for the uppermost of the superposed boxes,and

from defacement in transit; also it permits a consignee to place his ownbrand or proprietary label on the individual tray boxes at destinationwithout uncrating.

We claim:

1. In a packing receptacle, the combination of a plurality of separatesuperposed open top lug boxes for holding the products to be packed,each box having side and end walls and a bottom, and a skeletonenveloping crate adapted for folding from a fiat mat to crate-formingrelation around said superposed boxes, said crate including a pair ofrelatively opposed side frames, a bottom frame and a top frame, each ofwhich has parallelly disposed slats at opposite edges thereof, the topframe having a sufficient number of side-by-side slat members to providean effective closure for the top of the uppermost box, the slats of saidrespective frames having their opposite ends fixedly secured torelatively disconnected cleats which have relatively adjacent endsbeveled and which are perpendicular to the plane of the slat members towhich they are secured, said cleats extending inwardly and overlying amarginal portion of the plane of a composite wall formed by theco-planar respective walls of the superposed boxes, and hinge meansconnecting the side edges of the bottom frame to the lower edges of therespective side frames and connecting the upper edge of one side frameto one edge of the top frame, the height, width and length of the outerdimensions of the superposed boxes as a unit substantially equaling thecorresponding inner dimensions of the enveloping crate, the superposedboxes fitting snugly within the crate as a brace against collapsingthereof and whereby the sides and ends of all the boxes and the bottomof the lowermost box provide panels for corresponding abutting frames ofthe crate.

2. In a packing receptacle, the combination of a plurality of separatesuperposed open top lug boxes for holding the products to be packed,each box having side and end walls and a bottom, and a skeletonenveloping crate adapted for folding from a flat mat to crate-formingrelation around said superposed boxes, said crate including a pair ofrelatively opposed side frames, a bottom frame and a top frame, each ofwhich has parallelly disposed slats at opposite edges thereof, the topframe having a sufficient number of side-by-side slat members to providean effective closure for the top of the uppermost box, the slats of saidrespective frames having u ing the upper edge of one side frame to oneedge of the top frame, said hinge means comprising flexible bindingstraps passing circumferentially around the outside of the skeletonframe overlying the cleats and being secured to the frame by the samemeans by which the cleats are secured thereto, the height, width andlength of the outer dimensions of the superposed boxes as a unitsubstantially equaling the corresponding inner dimensions of theenveloping crate, the superposed boxes fitting snugly within the crateas a brace against collapsing thereof and whereby the sides and ends ofall the boxes and the bottom of the lowermost box provide panels forcorresponding abutting frames of the crate.

3. In a packing receptacle, the combination of a plurality of separatesuperrmsed open top lug boxes for holding the products to be packed,each box having side and end walls and a bottom, and a skeletonenveloping crate adapted for folding from a flat mat to crate-formingrelation around said superposed boxes, said crate including a pair ofrelatively opposed side frames, a bottom frame and a top frame, each ofwhich has parallelly disposed slats at opposite edges thereof, the sideframes and the bottom frame being free of slats intermediate the saidedge slats and the top frame having a sufiicient number of side-by-sideslat members to provide an effective closure for the top of theuppermost box, the slats of said respective frames having their oppositeends fixedly secured to relatively disconnected cleats having relativelyabutting beveled ends and which are perpendicular to the plane of theslat members to which they are secured, said cleats extending inwardlyand overlying a marginal portion of the plane of a composite wall formedby the co-planar respective walls of the superposed boxes, and hingemeans connecting the side edges of the bottom frame to the lower edgesof the respective side frames and connecting the upper edge of one sideframe to one edge of the top frame, the height, width and length of theouter dimensions of the superposed boxes as a unit substantiallyequaling the corresponding inner dimensions of the enveloping crate, thesuperposed boxes fitting snugly within the crate as a brace againstcollapsing thereof and whereby the sides and ends of all the boxes andthe bottom of the lowermost box provide panels for correspondingabutting frames of the crate. I

4. In a packing receptacle, the combination of a plurality of separatesuperposed open top lug boxes for holding the products to be packed,each box having side and end walls and a bottom, and a skeletonenveloping crate adapted for folding from a fiat mat to crate-formingrelation around said superposed boxes, said crate including a pair ofrelatively opposed side frames, a bottom frame and a top frame, each ofwhich has parallelly disposed slats at opposite edges thereof, the sideframes and the bottom frame being free of slats intermediate the saidedge slats and the top frame having a suflicient number of side-by-sideslat members to provide an effective closure for the top of theuppermost box, the slats of said respective frames having their oppositeends fixedly secured to cleats having beveled ends and which areperpendicular to the plane of the slat members to which they aresecured, said cleats extending inwardly and overlying a marginal portionof the plane of a composite wall formed by the co-planar respectivewalls of the superposed boxes and hinge means connecting the side edgesof the bottom frame to the lower edges of the respective side frames andconnecting the upper edge of one side frame to one edge of the topframe, said hinge means comprising flexible binding straps passingcircumferentially around the outside of the skeleton frame overlying thecleats and being secured to the frame by the same means by which thecleats are secured thereto and said binding straps havinginter-engageable end portions, the height, width and length of the outerdimensions of the superposed boxes as a unit substantially equaling thecorresponding inner dimensions of the enveloping crate, the super--posed boxes fitting snugly within the crate as a brace againstcollapsing thereof and whereby the sides and ends of all the boxes andthe bottom of the lowermost box provide panels for correspondingabutting frames of the crate.

FRED F. TUGEL. WM. H. GRUL.

